Saidi Hassan

Surgeon and Chairman of the University of Nairobi's Department of Human Anatomy. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug 3, 1965, he died of cancer in Nairobi on Aug 29, 2017, aged 52 years.

Saidi Hassan was a teacher, but also a lifelong student, completing a doctorate in surgery from the University of Nairobi just last year. Colleagues said he was not pursuing education for its own sake, but for the opportunity to improve his skills and to acquire knowledge he could share. “He had an idea of impacting others”, said Daniel Ojuka, a lecturer in the University of Nairobi's Department of Surgery. “His interest was in developing people.”

Peter Gichangi, an Associate Professor in the University of Nairobi's Department of Human Anatomy, said Hassan had that impulse from an early age. Hassan and Gichangi attended medical school together at the University of Nairobi in the 1980s, where they were both selected for special training in human anatomy. Over the course of the training, Gichangi said Hassan was constantly thinking about how the course could be improved for future students. “By the time he finished, he was convinced that we need people who have a clinical background to teach anatomy”, Gichangi said, reflecting his concerns that the people teaching the course only had academic experience. “It would mean that the clinician would present the anatomy in a manner that makes sense to a person who finally becomes a doctor. That drove him to join the department and teach anatomy from the perspective of a clinician”, Gichangi said.

Hassan joined the Department of Human Anatomy at the University of Nairobi in 1996 and rose quickly, becoming Chairman in 2011. The year before he was named an Associate Dean of the university's School of Medicine. At the same time, he followed through on the commitment he had expressed to Gichangi years before, continuing to work as a general and laparoscopic surgeon at Kenyatta National Hospital and Aga Khan University Hospital, both in Nairobi.

Hassan's students said he was a committed teacher, willing to interrupt almost anything he was doing to answer their questions or provide support. “He basically treated them like his own children”, said Nelly Bosire, a specialist obstetrician gynaecologist, who met Hassan during her internship at Kenyatta National Hospital. “He socialised with them. He was happy to open his door and welcome them into his home.” But his students said Hassan also emphasised that there was a responsibility that came with their education. “You could go to him with an idea and he asked you, ‘What are you looking at achieving with it? How will it help the institution or the hospital?’”, said Benjamin Wabwire, a surgeon, who worked under Hassan during one of his clinical rotations. “He would encourage you not to do things just because it's a requirement, but you've got to do them for a reason.”

Hassan helped revive the Surgical Society of Kenya, serving as its Chairman from 2013 to 2015, and was the driving force behind the launch of the Annals of African Surgery, the Society's journal. Ojuka said he questioned Hassan's decision to start the journal, wondering whether regional doctors would be willing to contribute. But he said Hassan was convinced they would take advantage of the opportunity to share their research. It turned out, Ojuka said, Hassan was right. The biannual publication has been running since 2007 and Hassan remained its Editor in Chief until his death. “He was instrumental in growing it to one of the continent's premier surgical reads”, said Associate Editor James Kigera. “He worked hard towards indexing of the journal and was instrumental in having the journal join the African Journal Partnership Program, which has helped grow its profile.”

Later in his career, Gichangi said Hassan became concerned about trauma cases in Kenya, especially the lack of understanding of where and how they were happening. Hassan decided to pursue a PhD in surgery at the University of Nairobi and used the opportunity to help create a registry of trauma cases, with the idea that it could help guide national strategy for addressing the issue. “What set him apart from the rest of the regular clinicians and surgeons is that he was in pursuit of excellence in the things he did”, Gichangi said.

Hassan made time, though, to help develop Kibera, the slum in Nairobi where he was born. Colleagues said he helped parents living in Kibera find schools for their children and was involved in developing projects to improve sanitation in the community. Gichangi said Hassan was also an avid basketball player who encouraged his colleagues to leave the office to get exercise. Hassan is survived by his wife, Husna Hassan, and three sons, Asad, Harith, and Thuwain.

SOURCE :: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32489-3/fulltext